Data Lake Storage Gen2 — Python SDK Quick Reference

Condensed from azure-storage-file-datalake-py. Full patterns (ACL management, async client, directory operations, range downloads) in the azure-storage-file-datalake-py plugin skill if installed.

Install

pip install azure-storage-file-datalake azure-identity

Quick Start

Auth: DefaultAzureCredential is for local development. See auth-best-practices.md for production patterns.

from azure.storage.filedatalake import DataLakeServiceClient
from azure.identity import DefaultAzureCredential
service_client = DataLakeServiceClient("https://<account>.dfs.core.windows.net", DefaultAzureCredential())

Best Practices

• Use hierarchical namespace for file system semantics
• Use append_data + flush_data for large file uploads
• Set ACLs at directory level and inherit to children
• Use async client for high-throughput scenarios
• Use get_paths with recursive=True for full directory listing
• Set metadata for custom file attributes
• Consider Blob API for simple object storage use cases

Non-Obvious Patterns

# Large file upload requires append + flush
offset = 0
for chunk in chunks:
	file_client.append_data(data=chunk, offset=offset, length=len(chunk))
	offset += len(chunk)
file_client.flush_data(offset)